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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — In less than a week, Austin Peay State University has had two cases of assault reported on campus.

On March 31, a woman reported being assaulted in front of Browning Building, where she was grabbed from behind by an unknown man, causing an injury to her face. On Tuesday night, another woman reported being slapped on her rear end by an unknown man near the Woodward Library.

Both incidents were sent out to the campus through the APSU Safety Alert system that sends electronic messages about ongoing situations on or near Austin Peay that could affect the safety of the campus.

Of course not every potential crime incident on campus is sent out through the alert system. But in the case of the assaults last week and Tuesday night, they met the criteria for an alert.

“Whenever the chief feels like there is an ongoing threat to campus, we send out text alerts, email, tweets and postings on the website,” said Bill Persinger, university spokesman.

In both recent assault cases, the suspect fled into campus, meaning that it was considered an ongoing threat.

Last week’s case has been referred to as an assault, but Tuesday’s is being considered possible sexual battery, according to the APSU news alert. The previous alert referred to the incident as an assault.

Sexual battery is often defined as sex crimes that are not covered by rape statutes, such as sexual abuse or sexual misconduct and is often characterized as sexual touching or penetration without consent of the person and achieved with the threat of or use of force.

A new alert was sent Wednesday morning from APSU campus police, updating the description of the suspect from Tuesday’s incident after a witness informed police officers that they saw a person they believed to be the suspect in the area.

The new description of the suspect in Tuesday’s incident is a black male, 26-27 years old with a goatee, short hair, wearing a gray pullover with red cargo pants and a snapback hat. The suspect was approximately 5 feet 3 inches and 140 pounds.

Last week’s incident provided a more vague description of the suspect, only describing the attacker as a black male, 5 feet 5 inches, wearing a red hoodie and gray pants.

APSU campus police are pursuing all angles on both cases. While it is a possibility that the incidents are related, there is no concrete evidence, said Persinger in a text message with The Leaf-Chronicle.